Lyrics: Elizabeth Cotten
Music: Elizabeth Cotten
Played by Jerry with David Grisman, and recorded on "Not For Kids Only."
Also played once solo and once with JGB. A fragment was played by Robert Hunter
in 1997 as part of an Elizabeth Cotten medley.
Freight train, freight train, run so fast
Freight train, freight train, run so fast
Please don't tell what train I'm on
They won't know what route I'm going
When I'm dead and in my grave
No more good times here I crave
Place the stones at my head and feet
And tell them all I've gone to sleep
When I die, oh bury me deep
Down at the end of old Chestnut Street
So I can hear old Number Nine
As she comes rolling by
When I die, oh bury me deep
Down at the end of old Chestnut Street
Place the stones at my head and feet
And tell them all I've gone to sleep
Freight train, freight train, run so fast
Freight train, freight train, run so fast
Please don't tell what train I'm on
They won't know what route I'm going
| Jerry Garcia Recordings | |||||
| Date | Album | Recorded By | |||
| 1993 | Not For Kids Only | Garcia/Grisman | |||
"We used to watch the freight train. We knew the fireman and the brakeman, and the conductor, my mother used to launder for him. They'd let us ride in the engine, put us in one of the coaches while they were backing up and changing ... That was how I got my first train ride. We used to walk the trestle and put our ear to the track and listen for the train to come. My brother, he'd wait for this train to get real close and then he'd hang down from one of the ties and swing back up after the train had passed over him."